Song, “I Wish We Had All Been Ready”

Larry David Norman (April 8, 1947 – February 24, 2008^[1]) was an American Christian musician, singer, songwriter, record label owner, record producer, writer, playwright, actor, photographer, and humorist, who is credited as “a key figure in the development of contemporary Christian music“,^[2] “the most significant artist in the creation of contemporary Christian music (CCM)”,^[3] the “father of Christian rock music”,^[4] the “Godfather of gospel rock”;^[5] “Christianity’s first rock star”,^[6] the “bad boy of Christian music”,^[7] and “the poet laureate of the Jesus revolution”.^[8] “By 1970, Norman had the most recognized name (and face) in the Jesus Movement and the Christian music scene”,^[9] with Time magazine soon describing him as “probably the top solo artist in the field”.^[10] While he had long been associated with the Jesus people,^[11][12] and was even described as “the personification of the Jesus Movement of the late ’60s and early ’70s”,^[13] Norman himself “did not particularly identify himself with the youth-oriented ‘Jesus movement’ of the time”.^[14][15] He has been credited with having a significant influence on many artists, both secular and religious.^[16] Norman has also been described as having a “propensity for spinning stories”,^[17] and a “penchant for revisionist history”.^[18]

Since Norman’s first professional release in 1967, more than 100 of his own albums have been released through such commercial record labels as Capitol, MGM, Verve, and his own independent labels: One Way Records, Solid Rock Records, Street Level Records, and Phydeaux Records. Norman’s first album, I Love You, recorded when he was one of the lead singers for the group People!, was released in 1968. The band’s cover version of The Zombies song of the same name reached number 14 on Billboard magazine‘s top twenty list in 1968 as a single.^[19] Norman left People! in 1968 and subsequently performed as a solo artist, appearing both on mainstream and independent labels.^[20] In 1969 Norman recorded Upon This Rock, “the first commercially released Jesus rock album”,^[21] and in 1972 one of “the most influential Christian rock records of all time”, Only Visiting This Planet.^[22] Norman’s recordings are noted for their Christian and social subject matter, having successfully “wed the rhythms of pop music with the spiritual and social outlook of Christianity to create a kind of flower-power gospel.”

–Copied from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

My note:  Larry Norman seemed to struggle most of his life.  He was a very talented and gifted songwriter.  Some of his “issues” seem to be proceed from what some considered bipolar disorder, but that probably was never medically confirmed.  He was known by many to be a rascal (the kind of person we minister to at BB.)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_Norman

 

An excerpt from Christianity Today, announcing his death.

“Christian music legend Larry Norman died Sunday of heart failure, according to his brother Charles Norman. He was 60.

Norman, a blonde, long-haired rocker who is often called the father of Christian rock music, was a giant in the Christian music industry, said Chris Willman, senior music writer for Entertainment Weekly.

“His influence outweighed his sales so much that it’s comical,” Willman said. “He certainly had a heart for evangelism — almost to his detriment, I might say. He really could’ve been a star if he were singing about something other than Jesus.”

Norman’s 1972 Only Visiting This Planet album is regarded as one of the top contemporary Christian music albums of all time. His many hits were at the cutting edge, said Larry Eskridge, associate director of the Institute for the Study of American Evangelicals at Wheaton College.

“The song ‘Why Should the Devil Have All the Good Music?’ was one of his enduring trumpet blasts against the stodgy, old Christian establishment,” Eskridge said. “‘I Wish We’d All Been Ready’ fit with the end times, apocalyptic feel that was in the air at the time.”

“I Wish We’d All Been Ready” was also featured in the 1972 end times film, A Thief in the Night. In concerts, the singer gave his trademark “One Way” gesture, pointing an index finger toward heaven.

Eskridge said Norman was an icon during the Jesus People of the 1960s but distanced himself from the movement when it became a fad and eventually faded.”

http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2008/februaryweb-only/109-22.0.html

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The Broken Believer Main Index of CCM  https://brokenbelievers.com/classic-christian-music-index/